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Ciena® Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), the network specialist, today introduced significant new packet capabilities for its 6500 Packet-Optical Platform. New E-Suite packet modules for the 6500, featuring Ciena’s service aware packet operating system (SAOS), enable a highly scalable, converged packet-optical solution for network operators as they evolve toward simpler and more cost-effective metro networks. The new integrated packet-optical capabilities allow operators to swiftly and cost-effectively manage the surging demand for Ethernet services connectivity – from the network access to the metro core. This can yield substantial savings in reduced equipment costs in addition to significant operational efficiency improvements.

The new capabilities leverage Ciena’s field-proven, full-featured SAOS software, which is already available across the company’s packet networking portfolio and deployed on more than 300,000 platforms worldwide. Combined with Ciena’s widely deployed flagship 6500, Ciena customers can now select from a cohesive portfolio of pure packet networking devices as well as converged packet-optical platforms to tailor their networks to meet specific Ethernet service requirements regardless of their operational paradigm. Additionally, with Ciena’s OneControl Unified Management System, customers can now manage their Ethernet services end-to-end from a single management platform, enabling rapid and efficient service turn-up, monitoring and troubleshooting.

Key Facts:

Ciena’s new E-Suite modules for its 6500 family integrate packet switching and traffic management alongside OTN transport, leveraging the company’s SAOS software, to allow operators to quickly address surging demand for Ethernet services and connectivity. The new E-Suite for 6500 includes both blade-based packet switching modules for small footprint applications and fabric-based packet switching modules for high-bandwidth mesh connectivity.

The purpose-built packet capabilities combine with the 6500’s industry-leading coherent WaveLogic 3 optics for scale up to 400G, the full range of integrated ROADM solutions for dynamic service delivery, and integrated link planning tools for operational efficiencies. This provides a tailored and cohesive Ethernet service offering that can handle growth demands for years to come.

Ciena’s OneControl Unified Management System rounds out the solution by providing end-to-end point-and-click service provisioning for faster service turn-up, end-to-end visibility to ensure Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are met, and the ability to improve troubleshooting in the event of a network outage or alarm.

The new packet networking capabilities align with OPn, Ciena’s approach for building open, programmable next-generation networks that scale and automatically adapt to quickly deliver new services and bandwidth. Ciena-based packet networks can be deployed in conjunction with the company’s V-WAN Network Services Module, a network virtualization solution that automates the allocation of shared network resources among data centers.

Industry Comments:

“The metro packet optical transport market is entering a new phase that focuses much more heavily on the packet side of packet-optical transport, and adds new innovations such as switched OTN and 100G. In this new metro environment, Ciena’s products and technology are clearly resonating well with customers. In our recent Metro Packet-Optical Transport 2.0 survey, Ciena was selected by operators as the global leader in technological superiority and innovation in metro packet-optical transport products.”- Sterling Perrin, senior analyst, Heavy Reading

“With Ciena’s converged packet optical platforms, we can more easily and quickly scale to support large end user capacity demands driven by cloud computing, virtualization, SDN and video streaming. Deploying Ciena’s 6500 with integrated packet switching capabilities will also help to reduce the complexity of integrating and managing a separate Ethernet and optical infrastructure.”- Jason Koenders, senior vice president of engineering and network planning, Integra

Executive Comments

“The industry has been talking about converged packet optical for years, but unfortunately for operators past attempts have been more like duct tape than true convergence. By tightly integrating our widely deployed SAOS packet operating system with our industry-leading 6500, we are equipping operators to quickly turn up and deliver customized Ethernet services without compromise. With a purpose-built network infrastructure that is based on a combination of our packet and optical transport capabilities, operators now have a simpler, more cost-effective and more flexible approach to packet service delivery than an all-IP solution.”- Francois Locoh-Donou, senior vice president, global products group, Ciena

On May 30 at 11:00 a.m. ET, Ciena will broadcast a live web event to discuss its new Packet-Optical capabilities. The webcast will feature Ciena’s Francois Locoh-Donou, senior vice president, global products group and Mike Adams, vice president of product and technical marketing; along with Stan Hubbard and Sterling Perrin, both senior analysts from Heavy Reading. Jason Koenders, senior vice president of engineering and network planning, from Integra will also join the event. To register, please click here.

About Ciena Ciena is the network specialist. We collaborate with customers worldwide to unlock the strategic potential of their networks and fundamentally change the way they perform and compete. Ciena leverages its deep expertise in packet and optical networking and distributed software automation to deliver solutions in alignment with OPn, its approach for building open next-generation networks. We enable a high-scale, programmable infrastructure that can be controlled and adapted by network-level applications, and provide open interfaces to coordinate computing, storage and network resources in a unified, virtualized environment. We routinely post recent news, financial results and other important announcements and information about Ciena on our website. For more information, visit www.ciena.com.

Note to Ciena InvestorsForward-looking statements. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof; and Ciena's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties associated with its business, which include the risk factors disclosed in its Report on Form 10-Q, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 13, 2013. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Ciena's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.